Parasitic Beginnings
by jlneveloff2
Summary: -or a 'Christmas Parasite' - He never understood the tradition of kissing under the mistletoe. -part of the House Cameron LJ Secret Santa Fic-a-thon-


**title: Parasitic Beginnings (or A Christmas Parasite)  
fandom: House M. D.  
pairing: House/Cameron  
rating: PG  
****Beta: **Slwmtiondaylite  
**  
summary: **He never understood the tradition of kissing under the mistletoe.**  
**

**This fic was written for the Secret Santa Fic-a-Thon over at House_Cameron LiveJournal community.**

**This fic is for: cassandra_elise  
they asked for:  
**1. House or Cameron visiting the other's apartment (nothing too dirty happens)  
2. At least one lovely description/scene of eye!sex  
3. Plenty of snarky repartee (no OOC House announcing his undying love) (I hope I succeeded with this one )

**  
disclaimer**: Well, if I owned the show, I would have fixed it by now instead of making empty promises to viewers and then acting all confused when I learn that fans don't trust me anymore…So as it stands now, no, don't own it. FOX, David Shore etc. do.

* * *

The hallway on the fourth floor of Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital was quiet and dark as Allison Cameron stepped off the elevator. This floor had always been one of the quieter ones in the hospital, but tonight, the stillness was almost deafening. But Cameron needed the quiet; the onslaught of late-night Christmas Eve emergencies was exhausting her. People rushing home from last-minute Christmas shopping and not paying attention to their surroundings or, in their desire to get that special gift, taking extreme measures to ensure they got that last Tickle-Me Elmo, even if it meant someone wouldn't be spending Christmas with their family.

Welcome to the dark side of Christmas. She had only herself to blame though. She signed up to work Christmas Eve, and part of Christmas day. It sounded like a good idea at the time. It was something to take her mind off of her life, but in the end, it would only serve to haunt her. So she fled the ER as quickly as she could when her break came up.

And somehow she found herself on this floor, in this wing, nearing the office she knew so well. The office she couldn't seem to stay away from. Though, if she was completely honest with herself, it was more of the man who occupied this office that she wasn't able to stay away from. She was drawn to him for reasons that were beyond her comprehension. She had been pulled to him the second she met him, all those years ago and that was why she could never leave Princeton after she quit the second time.

Cameron peered between the blinds of the office to find it empty. Knowing that the conference room was never locked – at least it had never been when she was there – she opened the glass door and calmly entered. She hadn't allowed herself time to really study the office once she left, preferring to at least attempt to keep a certain distance from it; trying to ignore the pull she felt, though she failed miserably.

Surprisingly, the office had been decorated for Christmas. A small tree stood in the corner next to the door where a couple of chairs had previously been placed (she wondered where they were now). Strings of glittery garland had been placed around the edges of the shelving units and tiny little white lights lined the windows. Someone had also placed a small seasonal centerpiece on the conference table. Clearly one of the new team members caught the Christmas cheer – her money was on Kutner. Cameron had always been surprised that given House's disdain of the season and everything that it stood for – i.e. kindness and love – he never seemed to mind the decorations, just as long as they stayed out of his office. The only thing marring the décor was the presence of empty coffee mugs and bowls littering the countertop next to the sink.

Cameron remembered her first year working for House when the holiday season came. She had caught the holiday cheer and set about decorating the office early in the morning before everyone else arrived. When House arrived and began the differential, he had stopped abruptly and appeared to be wholly insulted at the audacity she had for placing a bowl of candy canes on the table. Cameron laughed quietly as she remembered how she fell for it. Even the nervousness she felt when she gave House the present she had bought for him that year didn't compare to the fear she felt when she believed she had offended him – he had reciprocated the gift-exchange. She really had been the gullible type when it came to House and his stunts when she first arrived. Now, she knew how his mind worked and could match him beat for beat.

Despite Kutner's (for she was sure it was him) best attempt at spreading the holiday cheer to the dark little corner where he worked, Cameron felt as though there was something missing. Everywhere she looked, there was nothing personal; the decorations, as beautiful as they were, felt as though they had been ripped from a catalog. Cameron looked towards the kitchenette and saw what was missing; the personalized Christmas stockings she hung up every year. They were simple, red with green trim with the teams' initials embroidered in them in gold, but they brought a personal touch to the office. She knew it was silly, but the stockings had helped the feeling that they, House, herself and the guys, were in it together; through thick and thin. How times had changed.

Cameron would be the first to admit that she missed working for House; and yes, even House himself, no matter how much she denied it. The dynamic she, House, Chase and Foreman had as a team was a once in a lifetime occurrence that couldn't be replaced. She knew that Foreman missed it, if his constant consults with herself and Chase were any indication. Even House's frequent appearances in the ER gave Cameron the feeling that he too missed the fluid way they had worked together. But things were different now, even if they were all still having trouble adjusting.

Cameron allowed her gaze to drift from the decorations to the rest of the conference room. Not much had changed since she left; the same number of chairs circled the table, the white board still held the key to the diagnosis and unfinished paperwork was scattered about the small desk in the corner. The desk, though, had remained unoccupied since she left. During her time under House's reign, Cameron had made the desk her own as she needed a place to go through House's paperwork, since he was unwilling to do so. And apparently, no one else was either.

Cameron sighed as she walked to the desk and began to shift through the papers. Knowing that House still didn't do his paperwork, Cameron had periodically checked in during her late shifts, when mind-numbing formalities would help take her mind off a particularly bad night in the ER. She would sit at the desk and shift through the massive amounts of mail that House, or anyone else, never bothered with. Was it healthy to go through the vast amounts of consult requests and referrals for a department that she no longer worked for but secretly yearned for? Probably not, but she couldn't help herself. Over the years she had developed a routine of going through the mail House received and could finish the job very quickly so she never lingered for longer than fifteen minutes.

Cameron sat at the desk and grabbed the first letter, tore it open and read the first two lines. A second later, she tossed it. There was no way in hell House was going to get up and give a speech at a medical school graduation ceremony. Cameron continued her process of reading through the mail in silence and occasionally scoffing at some of the content (did these people seriously believe that Dr. House was a 'nice guy?').

"Just can't stay away, can you?"

Cameron jumped at the sound of her former boss's voice and looked towards the door. She had thought that he would be home, drinking himself into oblivion, since he didn't have a case. His sudden appearance surprised her and she had no idea how long he had been there. House ignored her shock and stepped further into the conference room, his eyes on her the entire time.

"You know, I always wondered how my mail got done when I swore I tossed it," House said, standing in front of the desk, leering down at Cameron.

Finding her voice, Cameron gave House a soft smile. "Well, someone has to do it," she said before tossing the letter she held in her hands away.

"And that someone just happens to be you?" House replied, raising an eyebrow as though he was daring her to contradict him.

Cameron shrugged in response, beginning to feel slightly uncomfortable under his piercing gaze. "Needed a break from the ER," she eventually replied, giving him the watered down version of truth.

House studied her as she continued pouring over his mail. He wasn't going to stop her, why would he? With her here, some of his work got done without him ever having to lift a finger. But he didn't leave; instead he leaned against the wall with his gaze trained on her. "You know, just say the word and I'll drop kick Thirteen out of here," he said quite seriously.

Cameron glanced up. "And I told you before, I can't come back."

House rolled his eyes. "And yet, here you are."

Cameron sighed and glared at him. She really didn't want to get into this tonight.

House received the message loud and clear and, fearing that if he continued to pursue the topic it would soon broach subjects that he deemed forbidden, remained silent. They locked eyes for a brief moment before Cameron stood, throwing the unwanted empty envelopes and letters in the trash. But instead of leaving, Cameron made her way to the dirty dishes in the kitchenette, House's eyes following her.

"What are you doing here?" Cameron spoke up as she waited for the water to get hot. "You don't have a case."

"What makes you say that?" House asked, feigning insult.

Cameron smiled and tilted her head towards the white board. "Your board's clear."

House shrugged in response. "What are _you_ still doing here? Figured you would be with family or whatever by now."

Cameron gave him a small chuckle. "In all the years you've known me, when have you seen me take off for Christmas?"

House walked closer to her and shook his head. "Never; which always struck me as odd. An anomaly in the ever-changing puzzle that is Dr. Allison Cameron."

Cameron smirked. "And an anomaly it'll remain."

"I figured you would want to show off the shiny new boy toy to the parents," House continued, trying to get her to give him something tangible. He stood next to her, picked up the dish towel on the countertop, and reached for the mug she had rinsed off.

Cameron shrugged as she silently handed him the mug and fished in the water for another dish. "Chase and I aren't exactly together anymore," she replied quietly. "I ended it two weeks ago. I figured you of all people would have noticed something."

House was silent. He had wanted something tangible, but this was unexpected. Secretly, he was pleased as he never believed that Chase deserved her, but openly, House feigned nonchalance. "So, what was it? He leave the toilet seat up one too many times?" He paused briefly. "Not damaged enough?"

Cameron rolled her eyes. Leave it to House to bring up his theory about her only liking people because they're damaged. "That had nothing to do with it," she stressed. "I just…didn't love _him_. Not like he deserved and it was wrong for me to continue to lead him on."

House scoffed loudly causing Cameron to jerk her head in his direction. "What a load of crap," he said derisively. "What's the real reason you dumped him?"

"That _is_ the reason," she replied, feeling herself become defensive.

"It may be part of the reason, but it's not the whole story," House said, feeling smug when Cameron snapped her mouth shut.

Cameron sighed before returning her attention to the dishes. She felt House's gaze on her, waiting for a reply. She rinsed off the last mug as she tried to collect her words. Eventually the intensity of House's eyes got to her and she let out a huff of air. "I...I would have thought that it would have been clear by now," she said quietly, peering at House out of the corner of her eyes.

The silence following her words caused her to chance a glance upwards. Her eyes locked with House's intense gaze and she found herself unable to look away. His brows were creased slightly as he looked into her eyes, trying to decipher the meaning behind her words. She held his gaze as she felt herself become lost in the deep blue of his eyes; the eyes she had always loved. House's eyes were the most expressive Cameron had ever seen; she knew that though he tried to bury his emotions underneath his cold exterior, his eyes would always give him away. This time she saw the same emotions that were in her eyes reflected back at her. Or at least she hoped she did.

The intensity of House's eyes soon became too much for her and Cameron glanced away, breaking the hold. She flitted her eyes upwards and felt a smile grace her face. "Did you realize that we're standing under mistletoe?"

House furled his eyebrows in confusion and followed her gaze up. He rolled his eyes when he saw the offensive plant suspended in mid-air by a red ribbon that had been attached to the ceiling. "God, I'm going to kill him," he mumbled quietly under his breath. "How childish can he get?"

Cameron heard his words and smiled. She did have to agree that Kutner had a bit of a childish streak in him, but she figured she would use it to her advantage while she could. She slowly took a step towards him, gazing up at him through her eyelashes.

"I've never really understood why people kiss under this damn thing," House said, oblivious to her step forward. "It's a parasite, you know? Sucks all the water and nutrients of the tree, giving nothing back. And it's poisonous on top of that, causes all sort of nasty gastrointestinal problems. There's nothing 'romantic' about it," he continued, while Cameron patiently waited. "But I guess since most relationships are nothing but parasitic; someone taking but never giving back, it makes sense."

"Oh, you mean like you and Wilson?" Cameron asked.

"Ha," he replied shortly. "The same could be said of you and Chase. You just wanted the sex."

"Touché," Cameron replied, allowing him that one.

He brought his gaze to meet hers and was surprised to find that she was closer than he expected. During his tirade about the history of the mistletoe, she had moved in on it until she was right in front of him. "You don't honestly think _I'm_ going to kiss you, do you?" he asked, eyes wide.

She smiled slyly. "I don't think. I _know_ you will."

"And what makes you think that?" House asked, tilting his head in genuine curiosity.

"If there's one thing I've learned about you, Dr. House," she began brazenly. "It's that you can't resist me."

House was unable to keep the scoff from surfacing. "I seem to recall a certain amount of resisting. Loads and loads of resisting, in fact. You're not as irresistible as you seem to think you are," he finished, feeling slightly triumphant when the smile disappeared from her face.

"Right," she dragged the word out, a few seconds later. "Well," she inched forward, until she was toe to toe with him and had to look up to keep her eyes on his. "I never said that I was, just that _you_ can't resist me."

House was unable to stop himself from rolling his eyes at her confident words. "Well, that sounds a bit egotistical. Who knew you had such a selfish, conceited, narcissistic-"

House's statement was cut short by Cameron pulling his lips down to meet hers. Surprise kept House from reacting properly at first, but seconds later, all thoughts fled his mind and he allowed himself to respond to Cameron's kiss in earnest. Cameron tightened her hold around his neck, keeping him to her as he moved his hands to her hips, his cane pressing into her back. Cameron moaned into his mouth and House took the opportunity to slip his tongue inside to meet hers, deepening the kiss.

Several moments later, Cameron reluctantly began to pull away. She felt House leaning into her, trying to continue the kiss, but she moved her hands to his chest, keeping him at bay. The two of them took deep breaths, trying to calm their nerves before Cameron spoke. "See, you kissed back. Again. I guess even our relationship is parasitic; as long as _I _make the first move, you're willing to take it, as long as _you_ don't get hurt. It's just too bad you just won't take the risk on your own."

House remained uncharacteristically silent as she gave him a small sad smile. She leaned forward and placed a lingering kiss to his cheek. She felt House tilt his head towards her, almost as though he was trying to initiate another kiss, but she pulled back before he could. She stepped back, out of his arms and gave him one last lingering look before walking around him and into the darkened hallway and back to the ER.

House was rooted in the same spot, unable to move. The kiss had thrown him for a loop, but she was right, he did willing accept whatever she offered him. Every advance in their relationship was made because of her; he never initiated it, instead he just took whatever she offered him. He wanted her, but was afraid to do anything about it.

He took a deep breath, attempting to clear his thoughts. This is really not something he wanted to think about right now.

* * *

Christmas Day found House sitting in his apartment, lost in his thoughts. Try as he may, he was unable to get Cameron out of his mind. Even Wilson's presence couldn't shake her. Wilson, as he usually did on Christmas Day, stopped by House's apartment to keep him company. They watched – or more accurately, House insulted – the hilariously cheesy Christmas specials before moving onto the episode of _The L Word _House had previously TIVO'd, but House couldn't stop thinking about Cameron.

Her words haunted him. He knew that she was right, but he didn't want to admit it. She had initiated both kisses they had shared. Even their disastrous date was initiated by her; she had left, causing him to follow her and she winded up asking him out. The small moments they had shared over time had largely been under her control, he rarely willingly gave into her. He just never felt the need to do so because he always believed she would be there.

He did miss her; she kept him in check while she worked for him, never letting him wander too far into the dark and she was his conscious. His new team was still too afraid to stand up to him and challenge him. He liked being around her, which was why he constantly found himself near the ER. But he had kept his feelings to himself, believing that she _had_ moved on with Chase. Last night had shown him that he was wrong; she was still there for him.

"Okay," Wilson's voice spoke up from his side. "You've been quiet today. What's wrong?"

House jerked his attention towards his friend. "Nothing."

Wilson shot House a look, clearly not believing him. "House."

House sighed, knowing that Wilson wouldn't let it go until he got an answer. He could be quite persistent and after enduring Wilson's nagging during the whole Cuddy debacle, House didn't really want to go through that again, but he needed the advice, even if he would never admit it. "I, um, I kissed Cameron," House replied, as calm as possible.

Wilson's jaw drop was to be expected but he quickly recovered. "You seem to be having a lot of trouble keeping your lips to yourself this year."

House gave Wilson a glare, silently telling him to leave the whole Cuddy mess out of it. That was over and done with as far as House was concerned. "_I_ didn't start it, Cameron did."

Wilson smiled. "But obviously you didn't stop her."

"Would you?" House asked rhetorically. "It was that damn mistletoe."

Wilson laughed, his smile growing wider as he took this in. "You kissed Cameron under the _mistletoe_?"

"You know how she is about this time of year. I didn't want to deprive her of human contact on Christmas. You know she dumped Chase, right?" House said, now wishing he never said anything.

"Yeah, likely story," Wilson replied. "You're just the humanitarian, looking out for her. Tell me, though, have you stopped thinking about her?"

"Not that Chase counts as 'human' contact, being a wombat and all," House said, attempting to ignore Wilson's question.

Wilson chuckled. "She's really gotten under your skin, hasn't she?"

"No," House replied quickly, but Wilson wasn't fooled; he continued to grin at House and looked as though he was desperately trying to keep himself from jumping on the couch in excitement. "Fine," House grounded out. "I can't get her out of my mind, happy?"

Wilson laughed loudly, and House rolled his eyes. "I'd tell you to go see her, but that didn't work last time, so –"

"Would it shut you up?"

Wilson contemplated his answer. "Yes, I believe that's quite possible."

"Fine," House quickly answered before quickly pulling himself to his feet. He grabbed his cane and coat and fled out the door, leaving Wilson alone, who was still grinning ear to ear at this revelation. Maybe this time, House would choose to be less miserable.

* * *

It seemed like a good idea at the time, but now that House was standing in front of Cameron's apartment door, he heard the familiar voice in his head telling him that this was wrong, he didn't deserve this. He was perfectly content to stay home alone, or at least that's what he told everyone else. And he said that so many times that he truly began to believe it, but if he was completely honest with himself – which didn't happen often – he was tired of being lonely. And he liked being near Cameron, and he honestly wondered how it would be if he could be near her more often.

Taking a deep breath, House raised his cane and knocked on the door. A few seconds later, the door opened and Cameron appeared. "House?" she spoke, confusion in her voice. She was clearly not expecting him. "What are you doing here?"

House hesitated. He looked around the hallway and saw an elderly couple staring at him, smiling. Becoming uncomfortable by their stares, he finally spoke. "Can I come in?"

Cameron quickly nodded and stood aside to allow him in. House glanced around the apartment, finding it lavishly decorated for the season with a beautifully ornamented tree in the corner and many other seasonal items such as candles and pine garland. All in all, it was pretty much what he had expected of her. "Nice tree," he said, pointing with his cane.

"Thanks," Cameron said before quickly adding, "What are you doing here?"

House turned back to her. She stared up at him, a questioning look on her face as she crossed her arms in front of her. He had shown up unannounced and caught her by surprise. Suddenly the only thing he wanted to do was kiss her. He walked up to her and leaned down, placing a gentle kiss to her lips.

Surprised, Cameron pulled back slightly. "House, what are you doing?"

"I was thinking that maybe I could be your parasite," he replied.

Cameron pulled back to look into his eyes, a bewildered look on her face. "What the hell are you talking about?"

House stepped back, trying to find the words to explain what he meant. This was why he never wanted to talk about relationships in the first place; he sucked at talking. But he didn't have to work too hard because he saw realization enter Cameron's face as she remembered their conversation from the night before.

"House," she said quietly, looking down. "I can't do that again. I need more, something to show that this isn't just a game to you."

House shook his head, groaning in frustration. Cameron stopped and watched him as he struggled to find the words. "That's not what I meant," he said, shaking his head. He took a deep breath and looked at her.

"I was thinking more of a symbiotic relationship," he said, hoping she understood his metaphor. He saw the smile form on her face as realization washed over her. He tilted his head down once more, and captured her lips with his. She leaned into him wrapping her arms around his neck, accepting his kiss as he deepened it. Seconds later, they pulled apart but remained in each other's arms. House felt himself smile in response to her happiness. He pulled away slightly and spoke once more.

"You know, like a fungus."

* * *

Author's Notes: It's been a while since I've had time to write anything other than research papers. If you're reading my "Whatever It Takes," I apologize for the delay...I'm trying to get something finished on it soon...

**There's a type of symbiosis between plants and fungus called Mycorrhizal symbiosis (the fungus grows on the roots of the plant) and it occurs on about 95% of all plants. It is a mutualistic relationship that benefits both the fungus and the plant.


End file.
